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The Internet

Lenore Glover

CMAT451

Thesis statement

With the explosive growth of the 90’s, and along with it the corresponding increase
in security threats, the Internet as we know it is in danger of extinction. Originally
part of a collaborative effort from academic and military sources, the Internet grew
organically with agreed-upon parameters for years while primarily seeing use from
businesses under government contract and academia. The openness of ARPANET
(the Internet’s immediate predecessor) enabled networked members to access
programs and distant computers with ease. This in turn ultimately led to the
meteoric growth of the Internet just prior to the turn of the century. The very
nature of the structure of the Internet with all of its benefits has now led us to a
vulnerable structure which could well spell the end of the open Internet.

The concept of the Internet came about through necessity in the midst of the Cold
War and began active networking with government & academia in 1969 with the
establishment of ARPANET. Recognizing the need for Internet can be said to have
originated as early as 1945 with Vannevar Bush’s academic paper on the Memex; a
conceptual device or machine which would be able to access the collective technical
knowledge of academia for anyone in need.(Bush, 1945) The necessary bricks for
the foundation of the Internet were further laid out in the coming years with the US
government focus on science & technology education in the wake of Sputnik’s
success, the development of a standard for sending communications between
different computers with Kleinrock’s packet switching,(Kleinrock, 1961) and the
collaborative efforts of many scientists & engineers across the country.

With the establishment of ARPANET academia and government users could take
part in an exchange of knowledge & technology never seen before. The exchange
of knowledge and ideas helped to fuel a growth in technology and an exchange of
ideas at a rate never seen before in history.
From the early 90’s into the turn of the century, the growth of users on the Internet
literally exploded. Helped along by home computers which were moderately priced,
the proliferation of literally thousands of BBS’s, and the innovation of smaller
networks such as FIDO net, Internet accessibility increased as the restrictive model
of computer services such as CompuServe or Prodigy decreased and changed.

The openness of the Internet, which has allowed for tremendous technological and
creative growth, is also the Achilles’ heel of this worldwide network allowing for the
potential of harmful programs such as computer viruses. Early explorations by
some programmers or hackers into the concept of computer viruses were more for
experimentation’s sake. But as the years progressed, criminal and monetary
benefits could be derived from increasingly sophisticated viruses. The Internet, with
its ability to facilitate the flow of information, allowed the rapid spread of such
programs. The war of computer security vs. computer crime is a losing battle. The
ultimate solution might well mean the death of the Internet.

Introduction

ARPANET first went online in 1969; the early years of the Internet saw the
development and implementation of standards for communications and information
exchange. The addition of more computers from various locations on ARPANET
increased the knowledge pool. A major factor in the ongoing expansion of the
Internet was and still is the “free and open access to the basic documents,
especially the specifications of the protocols. “(Leiner, 2003)

Email was created as a standard in 1972 thanks to Ray Tomlinson of BBN. File
Transfer Protocol (FTP) was established in 1973. Ethernet, which created standards
for local networks, was created in 1974. Along with these developments, Robert
Kahn and Vinton Cerf developed TCP/IP a standard to allow “networks talk to each
other using the same basic language”.(Leiner, 2003) The late 70’s into the early
80’s saw the birth of USENET groups using UUCP (Unix to Unix Copy Protocol) and
Listserv software which was used within many networks as well.(Howe, 2009)
The 80’s saw proprietary networks such as CompuServe (founded in 1969) come
into their own with popularity and subscribers. Competition was intense with
companies such as The Source (founded in 1979), Prodigy (founded in 1984), AOL
(founded in 1985), and Genie (founded in 1985) for the growing numbers of home
computer owners. These companies focused primarily on providing customers with
built in services such as games & chat rooms rather than full-blown Internet access.

In the mid-80’s, the National Science Foundation funded the backbone of the
Internet and kept it running for the next decade. The number of users as well as
information on the Internet increased. By the end of the decade the first programs
indexing files available on the Internet were available.

The 90’s saw the introduction of the World Wide Web, the “of information retrieval
and hypertext [method] to make an easy but powerful global information
system.”(Berners-Lee, 1991) The development of the World Wide Web opened up
the Internet to those who were not necessarily as computer-savvy as previous
users. With the development of the World Wide Web and web browsers access to
the Internet was no longer hemmed into “walled gardens”(Zittrain, 2008) as
provided by companies like AOL. All that a person needed was a computer, modem,
and an Internet access provider.

Current & Projected Internet Use

Internet use has expanded since the early 90’s in ways scarcely imagined more
than a decade ago. Access to the Internet itself is no longer simply limited to
computers. Uses of the Internet are no longer simply limited to academic research
or military contracts. The need for contact with others applies online as well as in
real life and helps to fuel a significant part of all Internet activity. Computer use in
the business world, a constant for decades, has ensured that virtually every
business has an online presence and many actively court customers through social
media venues. It goes without saying that the vast majority of businesses in the
country today rely upon their computers and the Internet for support in promoting,
networking, and the daily functions of their business activities. How people acquire
their news has changed with the Internet to the point that Newspapers in their
traditional form are on the verge of extinction and journalism industry-wide is facing
an “evolve or die” scenario. Educational institutions, from colleges to libraries, have
steadily come to rely upon the Internet as an important tool for their needs.
Entertainment and how we the public acquire it is evolving at a rapid pace with the
Internet increasingly being the source for acquiring the latest in movies or books.

Items diverse as GPS tracking devices, cell phones, and children’s toys are just a
few examples of devices that depend upon the Internet to one degree or another.
Through a comprehensive system of satellites and enterprising businesses, anyone
with a bit of cash can track the car or person of their choice with a small GPS
tracker and an Internet connection or find step by step directions to their
destination. Cell phones, once a big expensive novelty item now commonly act as
the primary phone, MP3 player, camera, and have access to the Internet for your
entire web surfing needs. As for children’s toys, the early electronic talking toys of
the 90’s have had to make room for toys which can access sites on the Internet to
further entertain your child. Devices such as PDA’s and cell phones now offer so
many functions that everyday items such as wristwatches, pay phones, and paper-
based day planners are becoming a thing of the past for many.

Throughout its history, from the relatively humble beginnings of ARPANET to the
present, the desire for humans to connect has fueled a significant amount of the
Internet activity. The desire to communicate helped to make email traffic a large
part of the ARPANET activity in the early 70’s(Banks, 2008), and established early
chat rooms of CompuServe and other commercial online services as a major draw
for subscribers. With the turn of the new century, the desire for human interaction
online can be broadly termed as social media. Social media websites a typically
themed around their user’s interests whether broad (such as networking like
Facebook or MySpace) or narrow such as a website devoted to a particular fan base.
They key to social media which differentiates those sites from older style web sites
is that user interaction makes the site. Successful social media sites allow for broad
base appeal while enabling their members to customize their own experience to a
large degree.

Computers and later the Internet were an established presence in larger companies.
As the cost for computers dropped, more businesses were happy to take advantage
of their availability. Common functions ranging from memos to meetings to the
actual work itself have relied upon the Internet through computers first, then PDAs,
cell phones, GPS, and employee home offices. The Internet for businesses has also
been critical in marketing & promotion. Nearly every business in America has at
least a web site in one form or another. An established number of those businesses
also have online shopping options, and many now have a presence on social
networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter to further promote themselves.

Traditional journalism is at a crossroads. Comparable to a degree to when radio


first became a widespread source of news, the Internet provides even more
widespread challenges to an industry that has been in some ways unable to foresee
the changes coming. With decreasing subscriptions and readership, no clear
solution has been proposed for newspapers other than pay to view models which
promise dubious returns. News on the Internet is everywhere. Where one company
might charge, many others seek to gain revenue in advertising and tightening their
belts.

Educational uses of the Internet have served as a primary fuel for its growth. The
first nodes of ARPANET were the computer labs at various universities. Academians
were the primary users in the early days and viable online communities formed
through UseNet and LISTSERV grew through university systems which were
eventually networked to the Internet. Library catalogs were transformed when they
were indexed and available online, making research a step easier. Today in
education, most universities offer courses – if not entire course programs – online.

Much of today’s movies, TV shows and literature can be found on the Internet in
illegal, if not legal, format. The entertainment industry has approached the
openness of the Internet with what can best be termed as mixed emotions. Many
television shows are now readily available online either from the broadcast
networks themselves or sites such as YouTube and Hulu. The current format for
television shows is primarily free with a little bit of commercials although Hulu has
recently announced that it will go to subscription service in 2010. Movies, once the
staple of theaters and the corner video store, have now moved onto the Internet as
illegal Bit Torrent files and as legal downloads with companies such as Netflix. With
books, many copyright-free books are available at sites such as Google,
SacredTexts, and Online Books. The current competition for the book reading
market is now in the form of readers – devices which you can use to store and read
electronic books purchased usually via the Internet.

Current Problems with the Internet

In its early stages, the Internet was developed with the idea of information
exchange. That very concept is at the root of what makes the Internet and the
computers using it so vulnerable to attack by viruses. The first virus deliberately
set into the wild was the Morris worm created by Robert Tappan Morris, Jr. a now
tenured professor at MIT. The Morris worm was not intended to harm or destroy
data, it was according to its creator designed to count how many computers were
using the Internet.(Zittrain, 2008)

Early computer viruses such as the Morris worm were not particularly harmful in
and of themselves. Most were designed with mischief in mind rather than intent to
cause lasting permanent damage. At this point, the Internet was still largely used
by academics, researchers, students, and hobbyists. Motivation for a truly
destructive virus was simply not there – yet.

Sadly those early days are long gone. The computer viruses of today are typically
created with financial gain in mind. Whether it’s to gain control of computers,
harvest credit cards numbers and other personal data, or a concentrated attack on
a website, hackers and organized crime are now highly motivated to create
increasingly sophisticated malware, exploiting the fundamental aspects that
allowed the Internet to grow in the first place.

Malware, Spyware, viruses; the problem is now so pandemic that Internet security
companies cannot keep up. Additional memory is routinely built into computers
now so that even with assorted malware attaching itself to a given computer will
not slow things down too badly for a user.(Zittrain, 2008)

External problems with the Internet exist as well. Content on websites that is
acceptable in one country may be considered immoral and/or illegal in other
countries. Internet companies are increasingly finding themselves and their
employees being held legally accountable for content deemed illegal in certain
countries. Currently Google employees in Italy are on trial in a case closely being
watched internationally for the legal outcome will have ramifications for all Internet
companies.(AFP, 2009)

In the wake of the 9/11 terrorist’s attacks, security vs. privacy and individual rights
on the Internet have been a serious problem. On the other end of the spectrum,
some countries limit what can be accessed from the Internet out of concern for
maintaining control of their citizens. In addition, many businesses (particularly
within the entertainment industry) are concerned enough with pirated copies of
their work to be lobbying to protect their interests. In Britain and France, “three
strikes” legislation has been proposed for Internet users who are accused of
downloading pirated files such as movies, music, or books.(Doctrow, 2009)(Ozimek,
2009)

The Internet has become such an important, essential element in many aspects of
life that there is now a noticeable divide between those who have easy Internet
access and the “Information poor” who have little to no Internet access.(Quinion,
2009) Knowledge is money; lack of access to knowledge increases the gap between
both individuals and countries.

With content, security, terrorism concerns; it is not surprising that governments


throughout the world are increasingly looking to regulate content and accessibility
to the Internet. While some legislation can be seen to be for the common good,
other legislation is not so clear cut. The question remains can the Internet survive
such good intentions?

Current Benefits of the Internet

The very nature of openness on the Internet has allowed for collaboration on a scale
never before possible. Projects such as open source projects like Firefox, Linux, and
others have benefitted from the input of tens of thousands of people from across
the globe. In the unique setting of the Internet, collaborative works have potential
for a larger form of group participation worldwide. The question of viability for open
source projects is still open however. With the exception of Red Hat, commercial
success for open source companies has been elusive. In current trends, many open
source companies have been either acquired by corporations with an agenda or
were started by corporations in the first place.(VANCE, 2009)

In the spirit of generative technology, Creative Commons was founded to facilitate


“the body of work that is available to the public for free and legal sharing, use,
repurposing, and remixing.”(Commons, 2001) Creative Commons has allowed for
authors of various forms of media the ability to share their work under certain rules
and conditions (such as permitting non-commercial use) rather than simply
copyrighting a piece and require every prospective user to seek permission. The
model for Creative Commons has helped to increase the potential for creative and
collaborative works both on and offline.

Collaborating is not a new concept, ideas such as open source and Creative
Commons have helped to facilitate collaborating worldwide. Furthermore, specific
applications created over the years and recently continue to encourage
collaborating. Wiki technology, created in 1994 by Ward Cunningham has allowed
Internet users a framework for developed and posting collaborative works and
websites with a minimum about of difficulty. (Cunningham, 2002) Wikis are
probably one of the better known Internet technologies for collaboration. Other
examples of collaborative technologies include group blogs and Google Wave
(which is still in Beta testing).

Where are we going?

So where is the internet going? Can an accurate long-term prediction be


made for something that only exploded into the public consciousness less than
twenty years ago? In the past few years alone, the influence of the Internet
continues to astound and change our lives with events such as the last Presidential
election, the near-revolution in Iran following their elections, and the resourceful
Wikipedia.(Goldsmith, 2009)
As has been stated before, the very nature of the Internet leaves its users
vulnerable to virus attacks, in fact “general Internet attack trends are showing a
64% annual rate of growth”.(K Bagchi, 2003) The Internet and available
technologies facilitate conspiracies and criminal organizations.(Wall, 2001) Internet
crime and security are seemingly in a never-ending battle of escalation with
security always in the position of playing catch-up. More unlikely, but nevertheless
equally worrisome is the potential for a “digital Pearl Harbor”(Zittrain, 2008) a
terrorist attack which could cripple large portions of the Internet.

Both proprietary business models and increased government regulation could


effectively choke much of the creativity and potential of the Internet. Concerns such
as the digital rights of copyright holders and individual governments wishing to
maintain their security coupled with criminal attacks add to the potential return to
“walled gardens” of regulated, sanitized Internet access and the resurgence of
proprietary business models and the tethered appliances which the iPhone - with its
strict application approval process – is a prime example. A tethered appliance is
technology which does “not have the capacity to produce user-driven
change.”(Zittrain, 2008) Any changes or modifications are entirely controlled by
the manufacturer. While this has the advantage of increasing user security by
preventing virtual attacks, tethered appliances only allow for company-approved
change, usually at a slow measured pace which can strangle or prevent innovation
entirely. “Tethered appliances”(Zittrain, 2008) leave wide open the possibility of a
vendor modifying and/or deleting content that a user has already purchased. One
example is Amazon’s Kindle books allowed users to purchase of George Orwell’s
Animal Farm and 1984, but then the publisher changed its mind about allowing the
electronic version. The result was Kindle readers found their copies had been
deleted. (Frauenfelder, 2009)

Ideally, it would be nice if the Internet could retain much of its original form as a
breeding ground for generative technology. Generative technology is technologies
like personal computers that have the capacity to produce unprompted, user-driven
change.(Zittrain, 2008) The advantage of generative technology is that it has the
potential rapid innovation, particularly in unforeseen directions. One early Internet
example is “Trumpet Winsock, a program that allowed owners of PCs running
Microsoft Windows to forge a point-to-point Internet connection with the dial-up
servers run by nascent Internet Service Providers”(Zittrain, 2008) written by Peter
Tattam at the University of. Trumpet Winsock became enormously popular in the
early days of the Internet, a prime example of innovative technology whose need
was not even foreseen by any major corporation. Future innovations through
generative technology models may be drastically reduced as a result of security
concerns at a cost unknown to our collective future.

In the future it is highly likely that most Internet access will be through mobile
devices.(Anderson, 2008) Walled off sections of the Internet, to alleviate security
concerns or perhaps as exclusive VIP sections for those willing and able to pay
more, will be in existence. On the other end of the spectrum, low-cost PC’s
available to the underprivileged throughout to world are already in existence, thus
providing people with the potential of the world beyond their village. The existence
of low cost PC’s gives hope to the continuing nature of generative technology.
(Child, 2009)

The Internet, in one form or another, will more likely remain as it is with repairs and
modifications to its current flaws rather than have any attempt at wholesale
rebuilding. “The Internet is what it is because commercial interests and
government agencies didn't know what it was (DARPA aside). There is no way to
build anything like that anymore, so I have no hope that something better can be
built, or that everyone can be migrated to it. That said, I'm worried about Net
neutrality and I see many ways in which today's Internet could be hobbled
significantly or improved greatly over time, with no big disjunction.”(Anderson,
2008) (University, 2009)

Notes & Bibliography

In Jonathan Zittrain’s The Future of the Internet he outlines the generative pattern.
A pattern that can be used to examine progress and innovation related to the
Internet. I thought it would be of interest here:

The Generative Pattern


1. An idea originates in a backwater.
2. It is ambitious but incomplete. It is partially implemented and released
anyway, embracing the ethos of the procrastination principle.*
3. Contribution is welcomed from all corners, resulting in an influx of usage.
4. Success is achieved beyond any expectation, and a higher profile draws
even more usage.
5. Success is cut short: “There goes the neighborhood” as newer users are
not conversant with the idea of experimentation and contribution, and other
users are prepared to exploit the openness of the system to undesirable
ends.
6. There is movement toward enclosure to prevent the problems that arise
from the system’s very popularity.”(Zittrain, 2008)
*“Do nothing that is urgent, but do something else less important. You get a lot
done, and when something that is more important comes up, do the previously
urgent thing. Nothing seems to go badly because of this, and you live a more
relaxed life.” [http://www.structuredprocrastination.com]

Bibliography
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Anderson, Janna Quitney and Lee Rainie. "The Future of the Internet III, SUMMARY
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Banks, Michael A. On the Way to the Web. New York: Apress, 2008.

Baran, Paul. On Distributed Communications Series. 20 July 2007. 9 October 2009


<http://www.rand.org/about/history/baran.list.html>.

Berners-Lee, Tim. "Worldwide Web Summary." 6 August 1991. Google Groups


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Bush, Vannever. "As We May Think." The Atlantic July 1945.

Child, One Laptop Per. One Laptop Per Child. 3 January 2009. 29 November 2009
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<http://wiki.org/wiki.cgi?WhatIsWiki>.

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Tweney, Dylan F. "Google Chrome OS: Ditch Your Hard Drives, the Future Is the
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<http://www.elon.edu/predictions/>.

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